Download PDF of this full issue: v2n1.pdf (8 MB)

Reflections of Silence: Laos 1967

By VVAW

Note about the article: The above incident took place in Vientiane, Laos, 1967. del Rosario was employed as a operations assistant for the CIA financed airline, Continental Air Services, Inc. Based out of Vientiane, one of his responsibilities was to monitor all flights in the country, to know where each aircraft was at all times, determine how much cargo and what each aircraft should carry, and for whom. In February 1972, he presented testimony before national press and television about the CIA involvement in the opium trade in Laos. A few days later a spokesmen of the CIA publicly denied that they knew anything of the illicit drug traffic in Laos. The usual policy of the CIA to charges made against them is silence.

Leaning over the car counter with this hands poised threateningly at my throat, M.B.* shouted, "You punk, I'll come over this counter and kick you head in!"

"You do and you'd better be prepared to kill me", I shouted back, "'cause that's what I intend to do to you!"

I picked up the nearest bar stool and was preparing to use it on my opponent's head when I heard the sound of the door opening behind me and the sound of hurried footsteps indicated that someone was coming up behind me. Quickly evaluating the expression on M.B.'s face, and seeing that he too was distracted, I gambled a peek over my shoulder to see who had come in. It was G.R.**, someone I'd served in the Marine Corps with in Vietnam back in 1964. I was relieved because I knew that my opponent would not likely continue his attack in the presence of a witness.

"What's going on guys?" the new comer asked in a forced tone of friendliness, for somehow he had sensed the hostility in the air.

"Not much", I looked over at M.B., and he too became a bit more relaxed. He probably did not want to kick my head in, I thought, and I really didn't want to kill him.

"Just got back from Muong Souei. Man, the shit's about to hit the fan there."

"Yeah, so I've heard. This morning I sent up two companies of Vang Pao's troops there. Tomorrow morning both Continental and Air America *** will be sending about ten flights up there. Things don't look well at all."

"Just like Vietnam in '64" M.R. Joined in.

He had come from behind the bar counter and had sat down on a lounge chair next to the wall. He motioned for us to join him in the adjoining chairs, the concern for the situation at Muong Souei seemingly more important at the moment that the quarrel he and I did not have a chance to finish. Allowing G.R. To go ahead of me, so that he would be sitting behind M.B. And I in case all hostilities had not yet subsided, I asked M.B. To elaborate.

"The same shit that;s happening here was happening back in the Congo when I was there flying for the same fucking 'customer'****. You fly military equipment to ignorant bastards who don't even know how to turn a screw driver, you provide the food they eat, you clothe them, you take care of their wounded, and you still have to fight the fucking war for them."

I nodded in agreement.

"G.R. And I did that back in Vietnam, and we're doing it again here in Laos. The Vietnamese, the Lao, the Congolese...I guess they're all the same."

"Yup, they're all the same. Ha Ha", M.B. Laughed, "I remembered every time we'd make contact with the Katangese, our niggers would start lining up outside of the field dispensary with self inflicted wounds, or no wounds at all under the bandages."

"Same-same Vietnam and Laos."

G.R. Took a slow swig from a bottle of beer left by a previous customer on your table. He pulled out the .38 caliber revolver from the holster strapped to his hip and carefully picked the bullets out of the cylinder.

"If things keep going the way it has been, del, we'll find our young asses back in the crotch."

Before I could answer, M.B. Spat out, "That shows you how much you know about what we;re doing here in Laos. The 'customer' will never allow this war to get any bigger than it is already. They don't want some dumb-shit goody-goody Marine to come stumbling into their private little war. Look what they are doing to Vietnam-they've fucked up what was once a good little war. The only thing that is needed in this country are professionals."

"You telling me that the Marines aren't professionals?"

"I'm telling you that the only way to fight a war and win it is to keep it quiet from the American public. Once they head about it they'll want to get a piece of the action, and once they get a piece of the action, they'll find that there are certain nasty things that goes with running a war properly, and then they'll suddenly find it's against their morals. Look at those fucking students and commies protesting against the war in Vietnam back in the states. Shit, if they ever found out about Laos we'd all be replaced by the Marines and Army, and in no time at all we'd be paying these fucking Laotians for being here and fighting their war."

"I still think that one Marine division could come into this country and kick ass and take names."

"You're ignorant, del Rosario. You're fucking ignorant. Do you know what this war is all about? Do you know what you send those planes out to Ban Houei Sai for? Do you know why only certain people are allowed to go in and out of Twenty-Alternate*****? Do you know what leaves this country on our planes for Saigon? It ain't chili peppers, buddy."

"Opium", I answered almost inaudibly.

M.B. Picked up his hat from the table, got up and walked up the stairs of Suzanne's Bar and Restaurant in search of company for the night.

*M.B. Are initials of a person I do not wish to identify

**G.R. Are also initials of a person whose identity I will not reveal.

*** Continental and Air America are two charter airlines under contract by the CIA to provide air logistical support for overt and covert operations in Laos.

****Central Intelligence Agency as the people in Laos refer to it. I've never seen the head 'customer', only heard the voice.

*****Site 20-Alternate, better know as Long Cheng, was a secret operations base for the CIA.